


It All Starts With A Kiss

by Titti



Category: Grease (1978)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27686873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titti/pseuds/Titti
Summary: After an accident, Danny comes to term with a different type of feelings for Kenickie.
Relationships: Kenickie/Danny Zuko
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	It All Starts With A Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Joanne_c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joanne_c/gifts).



> This is set in the fall of 1963, four years after the end of the movie. 
> 
> Joanne_c, I hope you enjoy this story and Happy Holidays!

The call comes almost at the end of the work day. Danny is still at the garage, working on a red Plymouth Fury, when his boss yells for him from the office. The call is from Nurse Debby at Mount Sinai Hospital. There are a lot of words and explanations, but Danny can't remember them as he drives to LA. _There was an accident_. _In a comma_. Those are the only things he remembered as he floors his car, making it in record time.

The ICU area is quiet when Danny makes his all-too-loud entrance, running without knowing where he is going. He only knows that he has to get to Kenickie. A nurse, her name tag proclaims her to be Mary, stops him with a simple look that reminds him of Principal McGee. "Who do you need to see?"

"Kenickie Murdoch." Danny pauses before adding the last name. Kenickie had always been just Kenickie. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Murdoch.

"Are you family?" Nurse Mary asks.

Danny shakes his head, while bouncing from foot to foot. This place makes him nervous. It's too… clean, no one is talking. The rhythmic beeping and flashing lights put him on edge.

"I'm sorry, only family is allowed here. You can go downstairs and wait for the family," she says in a pleasant tone that leaves no room for discussion. Danny never did follow rules well.

"Listen here, I gotta a call. They told me to come here and I'm not leaving until I see him, so call whoever and tell me where I need to go," he starts, his voice too loud for this place. A few doctors and nurses look at him, but then a pretty one with long legs and dark hair styled like Jackie Kennedy comes over. 

"It's all right, Mary. He's Mr. Murdoch's agent under the health directive." She smiled at Danny. "Mr. Zuko? I'm Debbie. We spoke on the phone earlier. I'm the nurse in charge of Mr. Murdoch's care. Why don't we go to his room?"

She talks about an Advance Health Care Directive that gives him the right to make decision, she explains that Kenickie's job had a copy on file and then describes the various injuries. The fancy words can't prepare Danny for the sight in front of him. There are tubes going in of his friend, gauze around his head and he's so pale that he looks dead. 

Danny remembers when Kenickie told them that he'd gotten a job as a test driver. The T-Birds spent the night celebrating. It was a cool job and no one thought about the danger of driving developmental cars at top speeds. Until now. "Will he survive?"

She smiled sympathetically. "The doctors did their best, but the next twenty-four hours are critical. Mr. Murdoch's employer provided us his directive with the insurance, which is why I called you, but maybe you can call his parents. Just in case they want to say their good-byes."

"He'll be fine," Danny says stubbornly, "but I will. I can-" He points to the rotary phone on the nightstand.

"Yes, you can use that and you can give them the room number in case they want to call you." She's looking at Danny in a way he can't explain. He's not sure he likes it. "The lazy chair is for you if you want to sleep here, and I'll have a plate sent for dinner. I'll let the rest of the staff know who you are, so there aren't any more problems. If you need anything at all, let me know and now I'll leave you two alone."

Danny doesn't know what the look she gives him means, but he can't spend too much thinking about it, not right now; he can't really think about anything. He sits there, watching his friend being kept alive by a machine. The sun goes down and the moon goes up and he's still there. He takes a brief walk in the middle of the night, but he sees the sunrise still sitting in the same chair.

The nurses bring him food. Different nurses come in with the changing shifts, but they are all very nice to him. After the first day, he has to go back to work, but they tell him that the fact that he survived the night is a very good sign. Danny thinks that they are just guessing. 

Kenickie's parents stay with him during the day. Danny drives to work, then home for a shower and change of clothes and then back to the hospital where he spends the rest of the day and night, because he refuses to let Kenickie be alone. That becomes his routine for the next couple of days.

On the fourth day, he arrives late, during the change of shift. The ICU is more lively than usual, with the nurses talking to each other. He doesn't mean to eavesdrop, but the two nurses are young and pretty. What he hears shocks him. They think that he and Kenickie are a couple. They are whispering and cooing and making all those random noises women make, usually when babies are around. They all shut up when they see him. Debbie is the one who comes forward and walks with him to the room.

"We won't say anything," she says softly. "It's nice to see someone so devoted to a… friend. He's lucky to have you."

Danny is too stunned to answer. He watches her leave still trying to form words. "Did you hear what she said?" he asks Kenickie in a whisper. They told him that talking helps, so he keeps talking. "They think that we are… I mean we aren't… They think because you gave me the power of attorney, it means we're together, which is …c'mon, that's freaking stupid, right?" 

He sits down and gets comfortable. "Why did you give me that power? Not that I'm doing shit. The doctors use big words and I don't know what they are saying. Should have paid attention in biology. They did say your vitals are better, whatever the fuck that means, but you need to wake up, man, because I'm out of my league here."

He sighed. "You didn't answer my question, why me? I mean I know you and Rizzo split up a while ago, but you've never mentioned anyone else since. Almost four years, that's just strange. And you could have named your parents. They love you, they could have made whatever choices the doctors want them to make." Danny knows that despite the papers, he'd always ask them for their opinion, because he's their son, but maybe that's the real reason. His parents would do what the doctors want, while Danny would do what Kenickie wants. "You'll have to wake up to answer me, because otherwise I'll think that they are right and you don't want them to be right."

He keeps talking until he can't anymore. Kenickie doesn't wake up that day, but he does the next morning. It's early, the first rays break the darkness of the night and Danny is asleep in the chair. It's uncomfortable and he keeps waking up, which is why he hears Kenickie move. 

He gets up from the chair and nears the bed. He gently squeezed Kenickie's hand. "Hey, pal, you're awake. You're in a hospital, and have that thing inside you to help you breathe. Let me call the nurse so they can take it out. Also you have needles on your other hand, so don't move it too much."

After that, the room comes alive with lights and the buzzing of people. There are more tests and Danny gets to work late. It takes another week until Kenickie's well enough to go home. "Good thing the job comes with insurance. You'd have to sell your firstborn otherwise," Danny says as they wheel Kenickie into his car. It's 1963 and Kennedy is talking about going to the moon, but Danny doesn't know anyone who's got medical insurance. The moon seems more affordable.

When they get to the car, they are finally alone. "I'm so glad you're out. I was starting to hate that place."

"You didn't have to stay all the time. I told you to go home," Kenickie says.

"Your parents couldn't stay day and night. They need their rest." Mr. Murdoch didn't come back right in the head from the war. Everyone knows that, but no one talks about it. Mrs. Murdoch has hard enough time taking care of him. It's why Kenickie is moving in with Danny for the time being. The doctors said he can't live alone and his parents can't take care of him. 

"You sure you're all right with me staying at yours. Can't really do much yet. Ribs still hurt," Kenickie says.

"You look like everything hurts. You can take my bed and I'll stay on the couch. Better than the damn chair, that's for sure." During this past week, he's helped Kenickie with things they don't mention, and he'll keep doing it at the house. "Besides, you're doing better."

"I can walk to the bathroom to take a piss all by myself," he says with a grin.

"Now, if you could take a shower all by your lonesome. You're starting to stink," Danny answers back and they both laugh.

"Ouch, don't- Ribs hurt when I laugh." Kenickie goes silent, looking at the road for almost ten minutes, the music filling the silence. "I could be dead," he finally says when they are about to get to Danny's.

Danny is tempted to deflect with a joke like he'd have done in school, but they are adults now, and the things that were too hard to say as teenagers have to be said. "I'm glad you're not."

"The job is safe. Most of times. This was a fluke," Kenickie continues.

Danny looks at Kenickie's profile for a moment and then his eyes are back on the road. "You don't have to go back if you don't want to."

"It pays well, insurance, living in LA." Kenickie sounds like he's trying to convince himself at this point.

"It's too soon. Give it some time. You can't go back anyway. Doctors said at least six weeks and then you need a new visit before you can be cleared to go to work. Take your time and see." For all of the bolstering, Kenickie is a cautious man and Danny knows that time will help with the decision.

"I guess you're right. Gotta go back anyway, at least for a few weeks. If I don't, then they cut me off from the insurance and I gotta pay for the follow ups," he says, and they both know that Kenickie can't afford that.

"You don't have to think about that for now." He parks in front of the house and goes around the car. In the backseat, there's a small suitcase that Mrs. Murdoch has packed from Kenickie's apartment in LA. Danny picks that up and then opens the front door. "No wheelchair here," he said before giving Kenickie a hand.

Danny lives in a house that has been divided into two apartments. His door is in the back and the apartment was listed with two bedrooms. He's only ever used one and the other has a few boxes and nothing else. Maybe he'll get another mattress now.

They walk to the back and into the house. Danny helps Kenickie to the couch and then brings the suitcase to the bedroom. The house is small enough that you can talk in any room and be heard in the rest of the house, still he goes back to the living area and sits in his armchair. "What do you wanna do? I can make some dinner."

"How about we go to the diner? Eating, drinking, picking up some chicks," Kenickie says, winking at Danny.

Danny laughs. "It'll be a miracle if you can sit through dinner. The only think you're picking up is a fork."

Kenickie rolls his eyes, but smiles. He looks tired already and his only exercise was walking from the car to the house. "Okay, how about pizza? I'm tired of lousy food and your cooking is just a little better than the hospital food."

Danny doesn't argue with that, since he was planning on opening a couple of cans of spaghetti. "Fine, I'll call for pizza."

"You can grab me some beer in the meantime," Kenickie says.

Danny gets up to make the call, before opening the fridge. He comes back with a glass of milk. "This is what you get for now."

"I'm not a baby," Kenickie answers as he takes the glass. He lowers it down and rests it on his knee.

"It's that or coke, and that can't be good with all the pills you're taking. That crap removes paint better than turpentine; it can't be good for anyone." Not that Danny doesn't drink it on occasion, but since working at the shop and having seen coke being used to remove rust and paint, he thinks twice about it.

Kenickie closes his eyes. "I think I'll sleep a little."

Danny gets up _again_ and sits next to Kenickie this time. He takes the glass and doesn't say anything as Kenickie rests his head on Danny's shoulder. He's asleep in minutes. He barely wakes up to eat and then he's asleep again for the rest of the night.

They start a new routine the next day. Danny works not too far from the house, so he comes home for lunch. Kenickie's mother comes over in the morning to keep him company. The rest of the T-Birds take turns into the afternoon. By day three, Kenickie tells them all to fuck off and give him some space. After that, they still take turns, but they only stay for an hour or so, just to help him with anything he might need.

At night, Danny and Kenickie end up having dinner on the couch, watching TV. "The exciting life of the young and single," Kenickie says.

"Hey there's a hot chick on TV," Danny says. They are watching the Eleventh Hour. Now that he's been in a hospital, he can see that the medical drama has nothing to do with the real thing, but it's still amusing. 

Tonight episode makes him a little uneasy, though. He shifts and moves while on TV the psychiatrist determines that the hot chick who's an actress has 'lesbian tendencies' and that's she's being hostile to her director because she's confused. Even TV says that it's wrong, but those nurses didn't seem to agree.

"What is wrong with you?" Kenickie asks.

"Mmm, nothing… I'm fine, why do you think I'm not? I'm certainly fine," Danny answers.

"You look more skittish than a virgin on a first date," Kenickie answers.

"It's just-" He raises a hand toward the TV. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"That she's a lesbian or that the doctor thinks that it's an illness?" Kenickie asks in a casual tone, but he's no longer looking at Danny, eyes fixed on the TV.

"Both? I don't know." Danny gets up and grabs a beer and a coke, since Kenickie is still on pain meds, and he won't have this discussion while drinking milk. When he sits down, he takes a swig. His eyes stay glued to the TV. "Do you know any? I mean in LA, lots more people like that, they say, not as many as in San Francisco, but still."

"There's people like that everywhere, Danny, but yeah I know people like that," Kenickie says. "They don't have to hide in West Hollywood, not like here where you get arrested for liking men."

"Whoa, I didn't say anything about liking men," Danny says.

"What? You think it's just the girls and their 'lesbian tendencies'?" Kenickie puts the bottle of coke on the coffee table and turns a little to look at Danny now. "Why are we talking about this?"

"The show-"

"Nah, I know you. That isn't about some TV show. What's up?" Kenickie asks again.

Danny thinks about lying, but then sighs. "The nurses, some of them, not the old ones, but a couple of the young ones thought that we were- I mean it's ridiculous, but that we were like… together… really insane, but you gave me that power of attorney and they were so convinced."

Kenickie sighs. "My parents couldn't be able to make the choices and we've always been close. I know I could trust you, and that's why I named you in the health care directive."

"Right, so no real reason to discuss this," Danny says, going back to the TV.

Kenickie doesn’t move, still stares at Danny in silence, until the next commercial. Some guy is trying to convince them that Kools are the best cigarettes (they are not), when Kenickie speaks again. "Do you have a problem if I like men?"

Danny chokes on the beer, spitting it all over. "What the hell- You… you and Rizzo. You and lots of chicks."

Kenickie shrugs. "It's what we do, right? What we're meant to do so we don't have strange tendencies. I… I didn't even know until I met this man. Rob took me to some clubs in West Hollywood, met others and it's so… normal there."

Danny gets up and starts pacing. "I don't want to hear it." Kenickie nods. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Do you want to hear it or not?" Kenickie asks. "And what was I gonna say? Yo, Danny, I think I'm a homosexual, can you get me a beer? I never said, because we never talked about it, and I wouldn't have said it if you hadn't brought it up. It's not like I tell people here; no one knows in this stupid town. It's why I don't come back. LA feels like home. Here, everyone would think I'm a freak."

"You're not a freak," Danny says without thinking, because he's used to standing up for Kenickie.

"I know I'm not. Tell that to everyone else. Look at you. You're freaking out," Kenickie points out.

"I'm not… okay, maybe a little, but you can't tell me this is normal," Danny says and regrets it just as soon as the words are out of his mouth.

"That's the point. It is normal there. It _feels_ normal," Kenickie says in a softer tone.

Danny stops pacing and sits back down. He _is_ freaking out, but this is his friend and if some random women can accept him, so should Danny. "So… do you have… a boyfriend?"

Kenickie shakes his head. "Not right now, no. There have been a few in the past four years. Unlike what you think, I didn't turn into a monk after me and Rizzo split up. I couldn't tell anyone, though."

"And… you don't… want to jump me or something, because that's not cool," Danny says.

"Do you want to jump every chick you see?" 

Danny grins. "All the pretty ones."

Kenickie chuckles. "I got more restraint than you. Maybe because I actually get laid and not just talk about it."

"Hey, I get laid. A lot. More than enough." Danny can get any girl he wants, except that lately he hasn't been looking as much as he used to. Girls either want to get married or talk about careers and women's right; he doesn't want to get married all that talk gives him a headache.

"So, we're okay, man?" Kenickie asks.

"Yeah, we're good." They both go back to the show, although Danny has no idea what's happening now. He stopped paying attention when the conversation started, even if he pretended to watch the show. Now, his eyes wonder to Kenickie.

The man is good looking, not as good looking as Danny, of course. He looks less polished now, without the pomades to keep his hair all sleek and into a pompadour. He is paler than usual. He also looks more at ease than Danny has ever seen him, as if telling him about liking men has taken a weight off his shoulder and he doesn't have to pretend anymore. "You really don't like boobs," he suddenly said.

"I don't even wanna know what you're thinking, but boobs are…okay I guess. I don't hate them, but they aren't my favorite thing," Kenickie answers calmly. "And before you ask some men like both, men and women, some can't stand women at all, and some are okay with women, but don't really like it, you know?"

Danny nods wisely, but he doesn't know. You like women, you talk about women, you talk about being with women whether it's true or not. He's never known the people Kenickie has met in LA. Does he like men? He doesn't think so. In fact, he doesn't remember every liking a man, but then he wasn't supposed to, was he? Except he hasn't been able to put it out of his mind since Debbie mentioned it.

He shifts closer, slowly, trying to look casual. At first, it's just an arm stretched on the top of the couch, then slowly comes down around Kenickie and finally Danny shifts to kiss him. It almost reminds him of that night with Sandy at the drive-in, but Kenickie isn't Sandy. Even recuperating, he doesn't fall back, he doesn't give an inch; he doesn't complain or screech, but instead he kisses back. Hard. Danny tastes cigarettes and chocolate, and he's surprised by how much he doesn't hate it.

He moves closer yet, a hand on Kenickie's chest. This time, strong fingers close around his wrist and push him back. 

"What are you doing, Danny?" Kenickie asks.

"I don't know," Danny admits. "I've been thinking about this since the hospital. When I heard them, I was so upset, but the more I kept thinking about it, the more it sounded… good. Me and you, living together, being together." He hasn't really thought about the sex part, but after that kiss, he's ready to think about it. 

Kenickie smiles. "You have, haven't you? And then you complain about me jumping you while you're the one jumping a poor, sick man who needs to rest."

"Shit. Did I hurt you?" Danny asks worried.

Kenickie shakes his head. "I'm busting your balls, man." He leans in and kisses Danny again. "If you wanna do this, we do it slow. One, my ribs can't take much more than kissing. Two, I don't want you to change your mind in the morning and then you hate me. You're my best friend. I don't want to lose that."

Danny thinks that he's better than that, but then he's done some pretty shitty things in his life and he can admit to himself that while he's ready to think about more than kissing, he's not ready to do more than kissing. "Okay, we can do slow," he says before he steals one more kiss and they go back to their show for the night.

It's the first of many nights together. It all starts with a kiss, something so simple and scary, but with time it turns into something more and dear. Their journey isn't easy with setbacks and happy moments, but in 2008, forty-five years after that one kiss, they finally make it official as they exchange their vows in front of friends and family.


End file.
